BATON ROUGE — In response to today’s tragedies in New York and Washington D.C., a decision regarding the status of Saturday’s LSU-Auburn football contest will not be reached until Wednesday at approximately 3 p.m., according to LSU athletics director Skip Bertman.
Two conference calls involving NCAA, conference and University officials will be conducted early Wednesday afternoon. After these, an announcement will be made concerning this weekend’s scheduled events.
On Tuesday, Bertman was on a scheduled conference call with fellow athletic directors and commissioners to discuss bowl games when the conversation quickly turned to the safety of all student-athletes, coaches and fans.
“The athletic directors were asked to get together with their chancellors and presidents while the (SEC) Commissioner (Roy Kramer) got together will all the other commissioners in the United States – the NCAA, Major League Baseball and the National Football League to see what we were going to do,” said Bertman. “We’re going to have a conference call at 9:30 a.m. (CT) on Wednesday. The decision will be made, probably, unilaterally by the Commissioner. Naturally, we will support the Commissioner and league office in whatever they decide.”
NCAA president Cedric Dempsey said the NCAA would cooperate with any executive orders issued by President George W. Bush.
He also said conferences and individual schools have authority themselves to postpone or to play all regular-season games.
“The games themselves are insignificant in the face of what has happened today,” Dempsey said in a statement. “Our focus is entirely on the safety of student-athletes, athletics personnel and fans. We urge schools to make sound decisions about proceeding with contests today and in the coming days.”
Statement from LSU coach Nick Saban on the tragedies in New York City and Washington D.C. today:
“This is as great a tragedy that I have seen in my lifetime. Our thoughts and prayers are with those people who are affected by it and the families of those that are affected by it.”
One other note: The LSU football team huddled together after practice on Tuesday and held a moment of silence for those people and their families who were involved in today’s tragedy.
Other LSU Sports News in the Aftermath of the national disaster:
- The LSU men’s golf team will bus back from Kiawah Island, S.C., rather than flying back due to the closure of airports throughout the nation.
- George Mason University will not attend this weekend’s Tiger Classic Volleyball Tournament in Baton Rouge.